RSM Consulting Veterinarian Kay Russo is seeing a wide range of avian influenza cases nationwide and places the blame on a delayed government response and a lack of monitoring and control. “It’s been severely under-reported because essentially there’s no structure around it.” Russo cites the recording of poultry contaminations by USDA-contracted groups as proof it can be done. “It’s a routine monitoring and they monitor them for ten days-post depopulation looking for symptoms. There’s nothing like that on the dairy side, but something needs to be done.” In a webinar from the American Association of Avian Pathologists H5 Task Force, recommendations included a consistent risk-based national disease control strategy, vaccines and more resources, such as veterinary services, lab capacity and capital.
